


Grains of Sand

by Amberlyne



Category: Ai no Kusabi
Genre: Future Fic, Minktober2020, Will update tags as work progresses, making it up as I go along each day lord help us all xD, no editing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:00:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26754712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amberlyne/pseuds/Amberlyne
Summary: Written for Minktober 2020, part of the AnK Creative Challenge 2020.Watch me try to write a short chapter each day of October. Will I miss days and have to catch up later? Probably yes :PI'm making this up as I go along so no real summary yet. This might become a full story, this might turn out to be a series of one shots. For now:Ages have gone by since canon events. Tanagura is now The City of Sand. Two explorers set out to uncover the city's secrets.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7
Collections: Ai no Kusabi Creative Challenge 2020





	1. 1. Black and White

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Minktober 2020, part of the AnK Creative Challenge 2020.  
> The rules I've set for myself: A short chapter every day. No edits, just post, get it done. Let's see if I manage

The sand was getting into Ella's eyes. What had seemed like just a light breeze a few hours ago was slowly turning into a minor sandstorm with every passing minute. She pulled her face scarf tighter to make sure she wouldn't breathe in too much of the dusty substance.

"Amar!" she yelled.

The figure plodding its way through the storm in front of her didn't give the impression of having heard her.

"Amar!" she shouted again, this time at the top of her lungs. The figure halted and turned around carefully, a hand coming up to keep the protecting scarf wrapped around its head in place.

Ella pushed herself into walking towards him, shoulders hunched forward against the wind that was pulling heavily on her clothes and made any loose ends of cloth flap against her skin. As she came closer she could finally make out Amar's eyes. They had those tiny wrinkles around them that showed he was laughing behind his scarf.

She hit him on the arm. "How much further do you expect me to go in this storm? I'm nearing the end of my rope here. My lungs are burning, I don't think my eyes are capable of blinking anymore, and my legs feel like lead.”

They’d been tracking through the desert since early morning when they’d broken camp on the edge of “The Last Oasis”. Their goal was to reach the ruins of an ancient city that supposedly was located on the other side of the range of hills they were traversing.

“It’s not far now,” he told her. She could hear the smile in his voice. “This should be the last hill. Unless,” he playfully squeezed her arm, “you’d rather turn back of course.”

She almost snorted but caught herself in time before she drew the nasty grains that were attacking her face into her already burning lungs.

“Alright, I can do one more hill. I suppose if I tell you I’ll turn back unless it really is the last hill you will tell me that going back will take longer than going forward.”

He laughed openly this time. “Yes I would.”

“We should have stayed at the oasis,” she muttered under her breath.

He didn’t hear her, but he did put a reassuring hand on the shoulder.

“Come on Ella,” you’ve wanted to see the City of Sand for years. Don’t tell me you’re giving up now that I’ve almost got you there.”

She hitched the straps of her pack back to their proper place on her shoulders.

“You’re right. One more hill.”

When they crested the hill she instantly knew it had been worth it. The wind dropped as they started their way down into a vast valley. Below them she saw what, so far, she had only seen in pictures: The City of Sand.

The city had to have been vast back in it’s day. As far as the eye could see rows upon rows of buildings stuck up out of the sand. Their windows broken, their colours faded. Some of them had started to crumble from the top down. All of them were partially buried beneath the sand that was slowly pouring into the valley from all sides so that you did not walk between the buildings at ground level but at what must have been second or perhaps even third stories.

With the passing of time all of the city would be devoured, buried beneath the sand. Already there was no telling what buildings had been lost to the slow accumulation of the substance. To call the abandoned city a ghost town did not do the image justice, its scope was too big for that. The ruins cast dark shadows on the white sand that almost seems luminescent in the burning sun.

One shadow drew the attention of the beholder toward a single point. In the middle of it all stood the one building that would hold out the longest. That was, as long as it didn’t start crumbling like some of the others. But somehow Ella doubted that it would.

The spire of an enormous tower reached out to the azure sky. Even with its base covered in sand it was breathtakingly high. Ella wondered what it would be like to stand in its shadow. It was clear the tower was important, all roads in the city seemed to lead up to it. She couldn’t wait to see what was inside. It would be a long walk through the sand still, yet she felt drawn to it.

“This is what I came for.” She pulled the scarf away from her face and breathed clean air for the first time in hours. “Let’s go!”

She threw a beaming glance at Amar who stood quietly smiling to himself, taking in her excitement.

“Take it easy Ella,” he warned her. “It is a long walk yet. Drink some water first.” He held out a bottle to her. “You can explore as much as you want for as long as you want, we’re here now.”

She took a swig of water and rubbed her mouth with the back of her hand.

“First you’ll have to show me where you found that old terminal. Oh my… I can’t believe I’m actually here!” She laughed, throwing her head back and made a sort of pirouette, her arms stretched out at her sides.

“The city of the evil androids that suppressed humanity for so long. Until one final uprising brought them to ruin and their city with them.”

Amar cleared his throat lightly. “It’s not as black and white as that.” She noticed a strange look in his eyes.

“I know, I know,” she added hastily. “And it is beautiful, isn’t it? Even covered in all this sand, I feel like I can almost see what it must have been like when people lived here, when the streets were abuzz and the space ports were crowded with people. If I close my eyes I can picture it. It kind of makes me sad that it had to end.”


	2. 2. Chains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ella and Amar explore the lower levels of a building and find some video material of days gone by

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So far so good, I managed a chapter for day two :P

Ella braced herself against the wall of the elevator as the car slowly trembled its way down. 

"Are you sure the aggregate will hold?" she asked Amar nervously. 

"It'll hold," he answered confidently. 

The words hadn't fully left his mouth as the single light at the roof of the car went dead. The car gave a heavy shake and Ella braced herself but the floor didn't drop away from under her feet, nor did the car come to a stop. 

"Okay, but what if it doesn't?" she pressed. "Or what if we get down but it won't go back up? What if the suspension breaks and we fall down? What if -" 

"It won't break down," Amar interrupted her calmly. "But if it does, the safety brakes will engage, they're mechanical. And if it won't go up again we climb on top of this car, shoot the grappling hook up and rope climb our way back up."

She gave him a sceptical look, surely it wasn't as simple as all that. 

He gave her his boyish smile in return. 

" Relax El. I said I'd take you to the City of Sand and back. I plan to keep that promise."

He reached his hand up to touch the lamp attached to his safety helmet. 

"Mind your eyes." 

He flicked the light on casting a bright circle on the opposite wall of the car. 

"This is as far as it goes,"Amar announced as he pushed the doors open. Ella flipped on the light attached to her own helmet. She could see dust float through the two bright beams shining down a short hallway. At the end of the hallway the light hit a sturdy looking door. 

Amar led the way up to the door and pushed it open. 

"Let's see what this building is willing to tell us." He grinned at her over his shoulder as he gave the door a firm push. 

Inside they were greeted by a large desk with several monitors in varying states of disrepair. Some of them were just cracked, others had shattered completely, their glass sprayed around the scene. Others still lay on the floor, their covers cracked open, their electric guts spilled out on the floor. 

Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. Ella hardly dared to step inside. It felt wrong to disturb the silence. It was almost as if the impressive presence of the previous inhabitant was still lingering in the room. At that thought her eyes drew towards the imposing chair that stood in front of the desk. It was big, covered in cracked leather, it almost seemed like a trone. Whoever had sat in it had called the shots here. She drew in a tentative breath. She wanted to know who had sat in that chair. 

Amar had left footprints in the dust as he made his way over to the old terminals that stood to the side. He was pushing buttons, the sound of it strangely muffled in the room full of dust. Ella drew her scarf back up trying to prevent herself from sucking the dust into her lungs. 

One of the cracked monitors flickered to life. Ella drew in a tentative breath. She turned her head light off so that she could see the monitor better but it displayed nothing but some bluish light. She turned her head to Amar.

“Do you think it’ll work?” 

“The terminal seems to be working, I’m just not sure if there’s any data left on it,” he answered apologetically. “Sometimes it’s like that. You find gear in working order but it has been wiped clean. Tough luck and better next time. Give me a sec though. I might be able to conjure something up yet.” 

He went back to tinkering with the terminal.

Ella approached the desk and started pulling open its drawers. The top ones were empty, but at the bottom she could vaguely make out some shapes in the blue light of the monitor. She switched her light back on to see better. 

“Will this help?” She held out a small stack of portable data carriers for Amar. His frown gave way to a smile. 

“Most likely it will. Let me try.” He plugged one of the carriers into the terminal. 

There was a static sound as the monitor blinked from blue to black. For a second she thought it had given out before white lines of text appeared. 

“Nice, we’re in business,” Amar grinned. “Let’s see.” He fumbled around in the dust on the floor until he came back up with a keyboard. “Now we’re going to make sure this carrier gives us all its secrets.

He tried to open the first file. Nothing happened. Ella had to suppress a sigh of disappointment.

“You didn’t think it would be that easy would you?” he teased her. “Come now, don’t you like a challenge?” 

He opened the next file. 

With more static noise an image popped on screen. It didn’t take Ella long to realize it was the room they were standing in, although the device that captured the image had to have been set up over the monitors since it was facing the door. Halfway across the room stood a sofa, otherwise the room was sparsely furnished. The middle of the image was taken up by the desk chair, and in the chair sat a man. An unlit cigarette dangled from his lips as if he was about to light up. He had auburn hair that fell over one side of his face, but not enough to hide a long scar that ran down his cheek. 

“Ooh,” she breathed, “one of the inhabitants. I haven’t seen his image before. We must have found someone new.” She moved in closer excitedly. “Do you think it’s his personal data? Is there more?” 

“Actually,” Amar mused. “I could have sworn this was a video file. He pressed a few keys on the keyboard. Maybe some of it got corrupted. This seems to be the last image in the file. I don’t know if I can make it play.”

As he said that the image blinked out of existence, but was quickly replaced with moving images. The man was in the middle of the screen again but he seemed to be speaking as his lips were moving. There was someone in the room with him. Just behind him stood someone, their back turned towards him. Black cropped hair stuck out above light blue overalls. The auburn haired man stopped speaking and the other person turned around. He was a young man. His piercing gaze seemed to pierce through Ella. Sharp black eyes drove themselves into her soul. Across the years, through the monitor, it seemed as if that gaze could burn her to cinders on the spot. 

In the black eyes Ella thought she saw anger, but also despair, and strangely, acceptance. She felt intrigued, who were these people?

“Can we hear what they're saying?” she asked as the auburn haired man spoke again.

“Give me a moment,” Amar replied and he scurried off again in search of speakers.

The video continued playing soundlessly. Ella pulled out the desk chair and sunk into it without looking away from the screen. She wanted to know what had happened to these people. 

The black haired man snatched a pad from the outheld hand of the other and walked out the door. His back was set and she wondered what chip he had on his shoulder. As the heavy door fell closed the man with the scar pulled a cigarette from a pack and placed it between his lips and with that the image fronze again. 

“Got it!” Amar gave a shout of triumph.

“The cable had disconnected, but I think I fixed it.”

He came back to the table and pressed a few keys. The screen blinked again. Amar pressed some other keys. 

“Come on, come back,” he muttered under his breath. 

Ella was holding hers. She didn’t want the video to have disappeared, she needed to know what was being said. She needed to know what went on behind those piercing black eyes. 

The screen flashed blue. Amar cursed. And then, as if nothing had happened, the video started playing from the beginning again. Speakers cracked into life somewhere in the darkness of the room.

“You can’t go,” the auburn haired man said. 

“I see,” a voice sounded from crackling speakers. “My chain isn’t that long.” 

Looking at the black haired man’s back Ella realized he had to be the one who was speaking. Chain, what a strange choice of words. She didn’t see any chains in the shot. 

“I’m glad you understand, Riki,” the man with the scar replied and the man with the piercing eyes turned around, his gaze penetrating Ella as before. 

“I don’t have to waste any words,” the auburn haired man finished. “Here, go to the basement and do some work.” 

The pad was snatched up and the piercing gaze turned away again. Again the cigarette was placed between parted lips as the door closed, audibly this time. 

“Chain…” Ella muttered. “Have any other references to chains been found?” 

Amar shrugged. 

“Not that I’m aware. But then, I don’t know anything.” 

Ella pulled on her own lip. 

“I want to know more about this guy. The one with the black hair and the black eyes. What’s his name? Riki. Do you think we’ll find more?”

Amar looked amused. 

“Well there are more data carriers here… But don’t get too focussed on one subject El. Sometimes a fragment of a video is all that remains of a single person. You’ve seen the scope of the city. Following the threat of a single person’s life can be a nightmare.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” she sighed. “But did you see his eyes? It was almost as if I could feel them on me, right through the screen.”

Amar laughed aloud. 

“You never forget your first. Don’t worry El, we’ve all been there.”


	3. 3. Dana Burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To the South-West of the City of Sand lies a spot that is known as the Burned Crater

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, at least I am motivated for this challenge. I am so tired I want to be in bed right now... But the urge to keep up is stronger :P

Archeologists believed that the shoreline had originally been closer to the City. Some even claimed that the remnants of the space port that had been uncovered towards the North-East had been practically at the seafront. According to them the range of hills that now surrounded the City had been ridges on the seafloor that, as the sea slowly dried up and retreated, had been laid bare and over the years had accumulated sand until they had become this range. 

Others said that this was too extreme of a theory and that the sea had been closer, but not that close. These people claimed that the hills had always been dunes, separating the City from the sea. But they agreed that the enormity of the hills was the result of the accumulating sand. 

Ella didn't know which one was true. She wasn't sure it mattered. All she knew was that the hike from the shore at its current position, through the desert had been long. But they had agreed this was the best road of approach.   
They could have approached from one other direction. They could have been flown in at the spot that was known as the Burned Crater. It was located at the other end of the City, in the South-West. In a strange twist of fate this spot out of all of them had not been fully covered with sand. Through a hole in the middle of the Crater any sand that had tried to fill it had trickled down into the earth. Therefore no one knew how deep the Crater truly had been before it had started filling up. 

Ella had seen pictures of it taken from the air. It was as if a hot knife had drawn lines in the ground, all of them meeting in the center. Sharp dark ridges stretched out from a white center of sand, like an inverted, dark, corona of a brightly burning sun. 

It was speculated that a structure had stood where the Burned Crater was now. A structure that, for whatever reason, had been blown up, causing the immense crater. 

Some exploring parties flew out to the Crater and airdropped in. The winds had been bad that year though, so flying out that far was a risk. Not only that, but the ground of the Crater was unstable and those who dropped themselves down towards it risked an early end to their expedition due to injury. Ella and Amar had decided to take the long hike over broken bones. 

She leaned back in the big chair as Amar tapped a few more keys on the keyboard. 

"I think… No way…" he breathed. 

She shot back up. 

"What?" 

"I think they're maps and blueprints." 

She was quite sure she'd never heard that particular quaver of excitement in his voice before. Usually Amar held his cool, that was why she had decided to undertake this massive trip with him. He was simply the best. But right now that carefree attitude of his was starting to make way for unbridled elation. 

He tapped a key. 

Bright light from the monitor almost blinded her. Black lines on a white background. 

It was a map, if one could call it that. It was the most basic of basic with only the outlines of things. The middle of the screen was taken up by a large hexagon, several, more organic, shapes were attached to one of its sides, towards the south and south-east. 

"The City is a hexacon," Ella pointed out. She leaned closer but the deteriorating state of the monitor didn't allow her to make out any names. 

She sighed in disappointment. 

"What's that though?" Amar mused. 

She looked where he was pointing. Towards the South-West was the outline of a structure. 

"That is where the Crater is." His voice sounded breathless. 

Ella squinted at the screen. 

"So it would seem. So there actually was a structure there."

Amar clapped her in the shoulder. 

"Come on El, a little more excitement please. We've just found proof there was a structure where the Crater used to be." He emphasised structure and crater and slowly it was beginning to sink in.   
They were actually uncovering things. She smiled at him broadly. 

"Yes! Well Amar, you certainly deliver on your promises. You told me you could deliver treasure troves of information to me." She clapped her hand on his shoulder. "I might just be starting to feel impressed."


	4. 4. Riki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ella's obsession with Riki continues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A day late, but I stayed up late for this one to make sure it wouldn't become two days late. I'll catch up I promise.

They had managed to load some of the files from the terminal onto their personal devices. It hadn't been easy to get the old riggety thing to interface with their modern tech. But after a few hours and a number of curses from Amar they had managed to convert several dozen files to types that they could store on their portables and carry out of the building. 

The aggregate held and the shaking lift car brought them back to the surface without problems. By the time they got there Amar's cheerful disposition had returned and so he stood laughing as Ella squeezed her eyes closed against the bright sunlight while telling him to "shut it" in mock anger. 

Their laughter reverberated strangely between the half submerged buildings as they slowly continued on their way. They checked several more buildings but none of them were as accessible or as useful as the first one. 

"We should make camp," Amar remarked casually. "darkness comes on rapidly here." 

Ella agreed. It had been a long day and she didn’t much feel like being caught in the dark. They hadn’t encountered any wildlife so far and she hoped to keep it that way. 

“So, we picking a building, or staying out here?” she asked. 

“Building’s fine,” he replied. “I’ve been in this section before and they’re stable enough here.

Huddled up in her sleeping bag she went through the files they had loaded on her personal device. There were some more short video clips from the office they had been in, but they lacked sound. Some just involved the man with the scar doing whatever work he was doing on his terminal. A few showed other people in the office, talking to the man, or just sitting on the couch. 

She kept circling back to the video that had the man with the black eyes in it. Not only was it the only one with sound but she also couldn’t break free from his piercing gaze. She kept pauzing, and eventually just ended up taking a screenshot of the moment he had just turned around. 

Riki stared right into the camera without knowing it and she stared back at him. She tried to figure out what he was feeling. The more she looked, the less sure she felt. There was no doubt of the intensity of his gaze, but it seemed to suck her in so completely that she could no longer define what it conveyed. In its darkness, where she had first seen anger, sadness kept pushing its way to the forefront. 

She started feeling the sadness herself, and the despair that she still saw in Riki’s eyes. He had said chain. Something restricted him and he wanted out. She wanted out. She unzipped her sleeping bag. 

“El,” Amar’s voice came from the other side of the portable heating device that made up the middle of their camp. His voice sounded sharp and snapped her out of her revery. “Stop staring at him.”

“I wasn’t,” she started. But he interrupted her. 

“You were, Ella. And I understand, I promise. Like I said, we’ve all been there. But you have to remember that they’re not real.”

“Of course they’re real,” she protested, “they lived here.”

“Yes,” he replied. “Emphasis on ‘lived’. It was ages ago El, and you’ll never know the truth of it. Right now you feel like you discovered him and you will get to know him and find out everything you can about him. But you won’t be able to. And while you chase after this phantom you’ll miss all the other opportunities this place has to offer. Remember why you came here. You came to uncover more of its history, not to dive down some rabbithole of the life of one person.”

She bit her lip in the dark. 

“I know you’re right,” she confessed. “He lived years and years ago, and the probability of him being important enough to leave more than just these few images is extremely remote. But then he looks right through me and…”

“And you don’t care and want to continue searching and searching until you know it all.” Amar finished her sentence. “Close the file Ella.”

He said it gently. With a sigh she complied.

A second later she gasped for air. 

“What? What is it?” 

She heard Amar sit up. 

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” she quickly reassured him. “It’s just. I think we have his personnel file, or something like it.”

She sat up and scooted around the heater, sleeping bag and all. Amar had sat up fully. Neither of them bothered turning on a light, their faces lit by the screen of her handheld. 

“Look,” she pointed out, “it says Riki, right there.”

“I think you’re right about this being a personnel file,” Amar remarked. “Though I doubt it was anything legal. Which employer would list their employees fighting skills?”

“Nickname: Riki the Dark,” Ella read aloud. “Well, dark suits him, sure, but I agree with you, no way this is a legal job we’re talking about.” 

Amar continued skimming over the file. 

“Date and place of birth unknown, figures. ‘Guardian’, well I guess he was adopted then? Date and place of death, sometime long ago at ‘Dana Burn’, aged 21.”

His hand found her shoulder. “Sorry El, I guess there isn’t much to find to begin with.”

“It’s okay.” She reached up to pat his hand in return. “It’s probably better this way anyway. Now I know.”


End file.
